Day 1: Crazy Cook Monument to Trail Mile 23

The first day on trail started at breakfast before sunrise. This and the subsequent 3 hour bumpy truck ride over rough backwoods roads were a chance to get to know some of the other hikers who share this crazy dream. Some would become friends and companions over the next 3000 miles while others would never been seen again.

Thru hikers are an interesting group. Some are retired in their 50’s like Dutchman and Mouse looking for another adventure, many are seasonal workers between jobs and homes or living out of a van, others like Mountain Goat had his house burnt down in Paradise CA and figured what the heck. We are all connected though by a love for being on trail. Many of the experienced hikers are counting every ounce and are carrying tiny packs while others like Shayla brought along her fiddle. Although only about 350 hikers started the CDT this year, there is a very restricted window you can start. Start too early and the snow pack is too deep in the San Juan Mountains. Start too late and you catch the early snows in Montana so most Northbound (NoBo) hikers start between mid April and mid May. This is our hiker bubble.

The trail starts at the US/Mexican border at a place called Crazy Cook where legend has it some crazy cook killed someone and they never caught him. There is a nice farm on the Mexican side of the border but the US side is pretty barren BLM land full of free grazing cattle.

The wall here is more like a barbed wire fence.

The desert here is beautiful in its own way. The Ocotillo was in bloom everywhere.

After pictures at the start, the hikers drifted off one by one. On their journey north. Only 3000 miles to go.

The landscape is mostly flat and barren with no natural water sources. We would be pulling water from caches and tires and solar powered wells that the ranchers let us use.

I was surprised to make 23 miles the first day. The plan was to start with 14. If all you’re doing is walking all day, you can’t just help doing big miles though.